What's wrong with Georgetown?

By Eric Williams Sports Central Columnist

The '80s. There were a lot of things wrong with that decade -- the crack epidemic, Iran/Contra, Jheri-Curls, Culture Club, and Cyndi Lauper come to mind.

There were also a few things that were great about that decade -- the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, rap music's rise to prominence, and "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" stand out.

However, there was one other thing that was great about the '80s -- Georgetown University men's basketball.

The Hoyas were once the premier program in the Big East conference and, along with St. John's and Syracuse, was responsible for making the conference the starting point whenever there was a debate over what was the strongest basketball conference in the country. The memorable 1985 Final Four, in which St. John's, defending champion Georgetown, and eventual champion Villanova, battled it out for the title, was the conference's defining moment.

It was also the highlight of the Hoya program, as they haven't been that close to the title game since. Sure, they made it as far as the Elite Eight on three other occasions, but they haven't been serious title contenders since that fabulous championship game against Villanova in 1985.

During that time, almost every kid wanted to play basketball at Georgetown. Patrick Ewing played there. John Thompson was the coach. It looked like so much fun, the way they would pressure other teams full-court, play maniacal defense, and run up and down the court.

Soon, however, the big-time high school players stopped coming and Big John was forced to fill his roster with overhyped, scrappy kids from the Washington, D.C. area who were nice college players, but not the potential NBA-types that the other major programs were still stockpiling.

Sure, you would have one season, like in 1987, when they were carried by Reggie Williams, where the Hoyas would overachieve and do some damage in the tournament. But, fans would never be confident enough to believe that this would be the year they got back to the Final Four. Along the way, other programs in the conference, such as UConn, passed them by on the national scene and in the collective minds of potential recruits.

Things looked to be picking up during the late '80s to early '90s, when premier big men Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo patrolled the lane. The Hoyas once again reached the Elite Eight in 1989 and continued their streak of making the NCAA Tournament, which began in 1979. Coach Thompson, trying to replicate the blueprint of the successful teams he'd had during the early-to-mid-'80s, surrounded his big men with small, quick guards like Mark Tillmon, Dwayne Bryant, and Joey Brown. But, he was never able to achieve the type of success that he'd had during the glory years of the program. Then, it seemed as though he got a break.

A cocky, lightening-quick guard from Virginia enrolled in school and looked like he would be the final piece of the puzzle that Thompson needed. Allen Iverson, the consensus National High School Player of the Year in both basketball and football, burst upon the league and almost immediately gave the Hoyas the type of impact player that they'd sorely lacked and teams needed to carry them deep in the Tournament. Iverson was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year in both his freshman and sophomore seasons, along with being named the conference's Rookie of the Year in 1995.

In his first season, the team was unable to mesh the frenetic, ball-of-energy game that Iverson possessed with the slow, plodding, half-court game that they now employed due to the presence of Othella Harrington, a two-time All-Conference selection, and were ousted in the round of 16. During Iverson's second year, the team was able to pull it together enough to finish the season ranked fourth in the country and again reach the Elite Eight. However, they were promptly shown the door by the UMass Minutemen and their star, Marcus Camby. That loss signaled the end of Iverson's college career, though, as he soon declared for the NBA draft and was snapped up by the Philadelphia 76ers.

It may well have signaled the end of any future discussions regarding the national championship that Georgetown will be a part of, too. These days, whenever people mention Georgetown, it's more likely to be a debate about Bill Clinton than one about the basketball team. The team that arguably made the school famous, at least on the basketball playgrounds, had become insignificant on the college basketball scene. No longer did the roster include anyone who merited Wooden Award consideration. While watching the McDonald's All-American game, rarely would you see a player that listed Georgetown as one of the schools that they were even considering. Meanwhile, high school All-Americans like Richard Hamilton, Ron Artest, and Troy Murphy enrolled at rival Big East schools UConn, St. John's, and Notre Dame.

So, does this mean that all is lost? Well, not really. This year's team, while not on a level with Kansas, Arizona, and Duke (although they played Duke really well at Cameron last week, only to succumb in the second half), should be one of the better teams in the Big East this year. Mike Sweetney, a 6-8 junior forward, is one of the best post players in the country and a definite first-round pick in the NBA draft whether he decides to come out this year or next. He represents the type of impact player that the Hoyas and coach Craig Esherick need more of to compete on a national level consistently.

Along with 6-11 center Wesley Wilson, the Hoyas have one of the better frontlines in the country, but as always, their Achilles heel is perimeter shooting. If their guards can hit shots from the perimeter to prevent opponents from doubling Sweetney on the interior, then the Hoyas may surprise some teams come tournament time, although another Elite Eight appearance is probably the best that they should hope for.

Esherick has a tough job. Not only did he have to follow a coaching legend in Thompson, he has had to deal with Georgetown's tough academic standards, which are quite a bit tougher than at most other Division I schools. While that may be a deterrent to high school student-athletes who may be more athlete than student, it can't, and shouldn't, be used as an excuse. There are other schools with stringent academic standards that have flourished in recent years on the hardwood, with Stanford and obviously Duke the best examples.

A renewed commitment to recruiting the best student-athletes by Esherick and his coaching staff has to take place in order for the Hoyas to regain their status among the elite programs in college basketball that they enjoyed during the '80s. If not, they will continue to be mentioned in the same breath with Temple as examples of formerly elite programs that have recently fallen on hard times.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.